Erika Jayne Clarifies Comments on Crystal Kung Minkoff's Eating Disorder
Offering more insight. After Erika Jayne‘s comments about Crystal Kung Minkoff‘s struggle with an eating disorder caught fire on social media, the singer clarified where she was coming from.
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During the Wednesday, July 20, episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Crystal, 39, opened up about her issues to her costars while the cameras was rolling. Viewers were quick to question Erika’s suggestion that Crystal take a laxative and her joke about eating habits.
The “Pretty Mess” performer, 51, for her part, addressed why she mentioned that the Real Coco cofounder could benefit from professional treatment.
“Crystal has told us about it and she’s been very open on Instagram [and] social media about her eating disorder. And when I was going through my mental health stuff, I reached out to a psychiatrist to help me,” Erika explained during the RHOBH After Show with costar Dorit Kemsley. “I reached out and got treated. I couldn’t understand why Crystal, when I asked her this, she said, ‘No.'”
The Georgia native noted that it was “interesting” to hear Crystal’s candid history, adding, “If something was occupying that much of my life — if she’s struggling this hard with an eating disorder, telling us about it, going on — honey, you have the means, you’re educated, you have the access, why not seek professional help?”
Crystal, for her part, pointed out that she did seek help. “I have had treatment in the past,” she said during her own interview for the after show. “I’ve talked to people in the past, I currently talk to someone. It’s an ongoing thing.”
The California native also revealed she wasn’t as upset over Erika’s initial reaction.
“Even someone like Erika, who’s very choice in her manners, her words, and stuff like that, there are some topics that can feel awkward for people, and I think that this was one of them,” she said before calling out the laxatives comment. “I think it was more triggering that as she’s saying these things, that she doesn’t know that it could be hurtful. Had that been something that I had an issue with, it could’ve been really bad for me.
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The costars have faced their fair share of ups and down after Crystal joined season 11. Amid Erika’s legal woes, the “XXPEN$IVE” singer wasn’t thrilled with Crystal’s reaction. (Erika and estranged husband Tom Girardi were accused of stealing settlement funds intended for the families of victims killed in a 2018 plane crash. The reality star was dismissed from the lawsuit earlier this year.)
“There is this outpouring of, ‘Why don’t you act this way, Erika? Why aren’t you compassionate? Why don’t you have empathy?’ And the truth is, I do. I’m also under a lot of legal pressure,” Erika exclusively told Us Weekly in May. “I’ve walked right up to the line. I’m fighting with one hand tied behind my back.”
The Bravo personality said she shared “just about everything” about her case that she could onscreen. “So for that whole situation, it was continuously boiling over. It’s like, ‘What about listening to the woman that’s in front of you? What about listening to what I have to say?” she continued. “What if I came to this group and opened up as more than I ever had before and I was criticized for that until that wasn’t true. At some point, you get very frustrated with that.”
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Crystal, however, explained that she was allowed to vocalize her concerns. “Last year I was brand new and it all was unveiling itself. I certainly didn’t feel like I had any right to ask questions and I know other girls did, but I had just met her,” she told Us that same month. “Things have settled and now it’s really the aftermath and I feel more comfortable in our friendship to ask those harder questions.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders (ANAD) website or call their hotline at (888)-375-7767 to get help.
